Petrelis Files

'Rare Exports':
Fun Anti-Santa Film, Sexy Grizzlies Too

A few days before Christmas last week, I was suffering a mild case of the "bah humbug blues" and chose not to fight it.

I went off to the Lumiere Theater and caught a bargain matinee showing of "Rare Exports," the new black comedy from Finland. More than forty people were in the audience, ready for lots of laughs and diversions from the commercialization of the holiday and glorification of Santa Claus as a benevolent, child-loving character.

The premise is simple. In a frigid, blustery region of Finland, two boys spy on an evil American corporation's mysterious excavation of a highly-protected mountain. Local children soon go missing, reindeer are slaughtered for no apparent reason, and the town's electric heaters start disappearing. Throw into the mix Nordic tales of Santa as a child-snatching figure and dozens of elves who are elderly and gnarly, and you have a wickedly fun story.

In addition to the comedic elements to hold my interest, the film is studded with handsome grizzly fathers and hunters. They would be right at home at the Lone Star Saloon. Here's a still of the main pieces of mature, fuzzy-faced eye candy, that should please many in the gay bear community:

"Rare Exports" is so funny, a few times I laughed out loud. Just the right length, too, with an 80-minute running time. Not sure when was the last time I saw a comedy in a theater, with an audience giggling at the jokes and sharing collective laughs, then applauding when it was over, but this was one such occasion.

I'm recommending this off-beat flick to anyone who likes humorous movies, hirsute he-men or re-imagining the Santa Claus myth. Catch "Rare Exports" in a theater and an audience tuned in to its wavelength. Here's the trailer: